From June 28 to July 2, ClaimSov members presented their research at the 2026 conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), hosted by the University of Galway under the theme « Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation. »

As part of a joint panel titled « Policy Imaginaries and Infrastructural Realities: Navigating Digital Sovereignty in a Polarized World, » Dr. Samuele Fratini, Dr. Francesca Musiani, and Dr. Julia Pohle joined co-panelists Zhao Alexandre Huang, Fieke Jansen, Mark Raymond, and Nadia Tjahja to explore digital sovereignty as a complex interplay of policy decisions, technical artifacts, and situated practices, bridging Science and Technology Studies, infrastructure studies, and international political economy.

Julia Pohle, together with Mark Raymond and Nadia Tjahja, presented « A Rose by Any Other Name? Unearthing American State Practices of Digital Sovereignty, » arguing that despite rejecting the language of digital sovereignty, the United States is in fact among its most consequential practitioners.

Samuele Fratini and Francesca Musiani presented « Switzerland by Design: The Co-shaping of Secure Messaging and National Identity Among Geopolitical Controversies, » examining how the Swiss messaging platform Threema materialises Swiss values of neutrality, privacy, and sovereignty and how this offers a bottom-up pathway to digital sovereignty for smaller states.

The panel also featured contributions from Zhao Alexandre Huang on China’s tech diplomacy in Africa, and from Niels ten Oever and Fieke Jansen on submarine cables and weaponised interdependence.